Menzis

The Dutch health insurers announced their healthcare premiums for 2019. Not one insurer lowered their premiums, but Promovendum and Besured kept their premiums the same, NU.nl reports.

The four largest insurers Zilveren Kruis (Achmea), VGZ, CZ and Menzis are increasing their basic health insurance premiums by 7.50 euros, 4.75 euros, 8.55 euros and 3 euros per month respectively. An outlier is PNOzorg, which is increasing the premium for its basic package by 17.74 euros per month.

Health insurer Menzis will now pay for depression treatments based on result, instead of on the number of treatments. The insurer signed a contract on this new approach with 18 mental health institutions. This involves treatments that last for less than a year, for patients who do not have chronic depression, NOS reports.

Two of the four large health insurers warned that it is no longer possible for them to keep health care premiums equal, or increase them only slightly. Consumers may face a big premium increase next year, according to insurers CZ and Achmea, RTL Nieuws reports.

Health insurance firm CZ has announced a monthly premium rate hike of three percent for the price of compulsory basic health insurance package. The rate hike will take effect from January.

The bump in CZ rates means Netherlands residents will pay 40 euros more for the year, compared to 2017 rates. The provider blames the rise on growing health care costs, saying that the entire increase was not passed on to the consumer, and that the company will have to tap 221 million euros from its own pocket to cover the shortfall.

According to consumers association Consumentenbond, the Dutch health insurers have more than 3.3 billion euros in "extra" reserves, even though they're making less profits. The association calls on the insurers to stop "hoarding unnecessarily" and "do everything to reduce the premium increases", ANP reports.

Figures from last year show that the four big insurers CZ, VGZ, Achmea and Menzis made half the profit they did in 2014. "But the four still managed to put 307 million into the reserve port in 2015", Bart Combee, director of the Consumentenbond said.

The Dutch health insurers have announced their price increases for next year. And all of the increases are lower than the average of 7 extra euros a month the Ministry of Health announced on Prinsjesdag.

CEO for health insurance company Menzis, Roger van Boxtel says that the Dutch National Care Authority is not strict enough in reprimanding providers for tampering with their packages, making it difficult for people to transfer to providers. The healthcare system is a "ticking time bomb", Van Boxtel tells De Volkskrant in an interview.